Posted By Alex Biese On February 13, 2013 @ 11:52 am In entertainment | No Comments

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Keller Williams (C. Taylor Crothers)

Few contemporary artists know their way around a Grateful Dead tune like one-man jam band Keller Williams. (One of my favorite live concert moments ever was during a September 2008 Williams show at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park: it was pounding rain outside and he used the occasion to turn the Dead’s “Box of Rain” into a crazy up-tempo country shuffle that really cast the song in an awesome new light.)

For his new album, Williams has recorded solo piano and vocal versions of 10 Dead classics for a good cause: “KEYS: A Collection of Grateful Dead Covers to Benefit the Rex Foundation” is now available on iTunes[2], with all of the proceeds from the album going to benefit the charitable non-profit organization started by the Dead to give grants to a variety of worthwhile causes.

The tracks Williams picks for “KEYS” span pretty much the band’s entire career, from “Can’t Come Down” by the mid-60s pre-Dead band the Warlocks to band’s hit 1987 single “Touch of Grey,” and every cut makes for a lovely listening experience.

The album-opening “He’s Gone” is transformed into a hypnotic jazz prayer, “Attics of My Life” gives the Dead the supper club treatment, and throughout the stripped-down presentation shows just how beautiful these compositions are.

For my money, the track that gives this album must-hear status is Williams’ breathtaking rendition of “Terrapin Station,” the epic song suite that takes up the entire second side of the Dead’s 1977 album of the same name. It’s a dense and complicated piece of music, and Williams navigates the waters tenderly, bringing Robert Hunter’s invocation-of-the-muse lyrics to the forefront. It’s a perfect performance, one fans of Williams and the Dead should be talking about for years.

The Rex Foundation[3], according to a news release, works “to fund grassroots programs that are often under the radar of larger funding entities, yet work in bold, innovative ways to carry out essential work toward a healthy environment, promotion of the arts, protection of indigenous cultures, assisting others less fortunate, building strong communities, and educating children and adults.”

Over the last 30 years, the foundation has distributed $8.8 million in grants to over 1,100 programs around the world and carried out fundraising initiatives to foster creativity and positive community connections.

Williams has previously supported the Rex Foundation with the 2008 live album “Rex,”[4] recorded with his Grateful Grass project featuring Keith Moseley of the String Cheese Incident and Jeff Austin from Yonder Mountain String Band during a 2006 show at Denver’s Fillmore.